By now it must be obvious to you that a crisis can occur anytime. It might happen when you are at work, or when you’re away on vacation with your family. But because most people who live in cities spend so much time commuting to and from work it’s important to have a car survival kit available in your car just like you should have one at home.
3 Easy Steps to Create the Perfect Car Survival Kit
Follow these steps to help you get your car survival kit ready hassle free. You can also follow these steps to create other kits for your office and home, it might require some more research though.
Step 1: Create and Follow a List (Here’s a list for your car survival kit that you can work with right now from instructables.com )
1.) Jumper cables (aka booster cables)
2.) Multi-Tool (one of those pliers that have tons of tools in the handle)
3.) Map (local area or area you’ll be traveling)
4.) First-aid kit
5.) Flashlight
6.) Rag
7.) Duct tape (because you can fix a lot of things with Duct tape)
8.) Rain coat (the folded $1 type)
9.) Emergency blanket (the folded $1 type)
10.) Folding shovel (entrenching tool)
11.) Fuses for fuse box
12.) Water bottles
13.) Protein bars or M.R.E. (meal-ready-to-eat)
14.) Reflective tape or reflective triangles (flares are hard to find)
15.) Old Cell phone, fully charged. Call customer service via the phone to make sure it works. Do not make test calls to 911 (Service is not needed to make 911 calls). Most modern cell phones and cell networks can triangulate your position, this is very handy in an emergency.
16.) Lighter or water proof matches, or flint rod.
17.) Compass
18.) 550 cord (named after its tensile strength) or para cord. Google the number of uses for this stuff, you’ll be amazed.
Step 2: Develop a Plan
The circumstances you are in will determine what plan you should be working with. Here’s a sample plan from m4040.com for getting stuck in a blizzard in your car: If it’s really cold, then consider starting the car every half hour or so, and running the heat for 5 or 10 minutes. During that time, use the radio to check for weather forecasts of the storm passing (or worsening). I wouldn’t recommend using the radio much when the car isn’t running. It would be a shame to kill your battery and not be able to start the car again!
Step 3: This is a really simple step and can be summarized in one sentence. Stick to your plan! When panic hits, the last thing you want to do is start changing your mind about your survival strategy.
Of course a car survival kit should be maintained and checked periodically to make sure all the supplies are in working order, do that and you will see how many times your car survival kit comes in handy outside of extreme emergency conditions and makes your life, well a little more comfortable.
